Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium

40°52′24″N 73°54′59″W / 40.873224°N 73.916452°W / 40.873224; -73.916452Public transitNew York City Subway: at 215th Street
at Inwood–207th Street
Columbia Transportation: Bakers Field ShuttleOwnerColumbia UniversityOperatorColumbia UniversityCapacity32,000 (1928–1982)
10,500 (1984–1985)
17,000 (1986–present)SurfaceGrass (1923–1994)
AstroTurf (1995–2004)
FieldTurf (2005–present) (field)
Rekortan (track)ConstructionBroke ground1921Opened1923Construction cost$7 million (1984)^[1]ArchitectDattner Architects^[2]TenantsColumbia Lions (NCAA) (1984–present)

Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium, officially known as Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium at Baker Athletics Complex,^[3] is a stadium in the Inwood neighborhood at the northern tip of the island of Manhattan, New York City. Part of Columbia University's Baker Athletics Complex, it is primarily used for American football, lacrosse, and track and field events. The stadium opened in 1984 and holds 17,100 people.

History

Until the 1920s, Columbia's outdoor athletic teams played on South Field, across 116th Street from Low Memorial Library, a site now partially covered by Butler Library.

In December 1921, a new site for an athletics complex was purchased for the university by financier George Fisher Baker for $700,000. It sits at the corner of Broadway and West 218th Street and Spuyten Duyvil Creek.

Originally named Baker Field, the facility was dedicated the following April, and the football team began playing there in 1923. It was eventually renamed Baker Athletics Complex. A 32,000-seat wooden stadium was built on the site in 1928; this was in use until 1982, when it was demolished to make room for the current Wien Stadium.

Wien Stadium

The stadium is named for Lawrence Wien, class of 1925, a former trustee, philanthropist, lawyer and entrepreneur. The 10,500-seat southeast (home side) stands were built first; the 6,500-seat northwest stands opened two years later. For the first 11 seasons, Wien Stadium had grass; it would switch to AstroTurf in 1995 and to FieldTurf in 2005.^[4] Wien opened on September 22, 1984, with a game that ended in a loss to Harvard. Columbia did not win a game at home until October 8, 1988, over Princeton.

On October 13, 2007, the field was named for Robert Kraft, class of 1963, after he gave the school $5 million.

A panoramic view of the stadium's main grandstand and scoreboard during the Columbia vs. Cornell football game on November 17, 2018

Use as COVID field hospital

In early 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, NewYork-Presbyterian / Columbia University Irving Medical Center turned Robert K. Kraft Field and Columbia Soccer Stadium into a 288-bed field hospital. The idea went from proposal to reality in a week.^[5][6] The field hospital was named for Ryan F. Larkin (1987–2017), a decorated U.S. Navy SEAL who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Kate Kemplin, head nurse of the operation, described Larkin as "exactly the kind of person who would have set up a tent to treat patients, if he were alive today."^[7] The care center was staffed primarily with former U.S. military personnel and NewYork-Presbyterian's frontline staff.^[7]

Possible replacement

In April 2015, New York City FC of Major League Soccer was reported to be considering building a new stadium at the Baker Athletics Complex. The Lawrence A. Wien Stadium would be demolished and replaced by a 25,000-seat stadium to be used by NYCFC and the Columbia Lions.^[8]

See also

• List of NCAA Division I FCS football stadiums

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium.